IGBIS Newsletter Issue 61, Week 2, January 2016.

IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 61, Week 2, January 2016

Parent Volunteer Organization

Inside this week’s Newsletter Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles, Head of School

Upcoming Events Friday, 22nd January 2016

End of semester one & reports Tuesday, 26th January 2016

News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod, Elementary School Principal

First day of semester two Wednesday and Thursday, 27th - 28th January 2016

News from Secondary School

Parent-Teacher Conference

Mr. Lennox Meldrum, Secondary School Principal

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

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Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, This week we have welcomed Mr Wayne Demnar, our new Admissions and Marketing Director, into the school. Wayne will be visiting us until he can take up the appointment in a few months time. In the past Wayne has been the Principal of schools in Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, China and Japan so he has a wealth of experience in admissions and marketing to share with us.

Next week we will be launching the use of the sports field and tennis courts to our parent and student community. These facilities will be available on Saturday morning from 8-10 am, providing that the school does not have other activities organized for that time. Families who wish to sign up for use of these facilities may do this on a weekly basis by following this link: https://goo.gl/Tayhxl or by going to the parent splash page. Rules for use of the facilities are listed and sign up must be completed by 3pm on Friday afternoon.

The first day for facility use is Saturday January 22.

News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal Music Week Next week we will celebrate our first Elementary School Music Assembly and Music Academy Concerts for the year. Please see the details that have already been sent home and hopefully you can come along to the Theatre and be part of the audience for our students. They are all very excited and looking forward to showing their parents, teachers and peers the skills they have gained.

- Music Academy Concert for Kindergarten to Grade 2 is on Tuesday 19th January from 2-3pm and Grades 3-5 is on Thursday 21st January from 2-3pm.

- Elementary School Music Assembly is on Friday 22nd January from 8.15-9am.

Assessment and Reporting - Teachers are now finalising student reports; these will be distributed to parents via email, after school, next Friday 22nd January.

- Our second set of Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th January.

Early Arrivals Recently we have noticed a number of students who are arriving at school well before 7.30am and who are not supervised. Teachers begin their duty at7.30am and although they may be in school, they are not necessarily in their classroom. Please keep this in mind as you plan the arrival of your children each day.

School Lunches Parents are reminded to regularly to ensure there are sufficient funds available in your school account for your children’s lunch.

What’s coming up?

4th February - Chinese New Year Assembly 5th February - Whole school Sports Day & last day before the holidays.

15th February - First day back after the holidays.

Book/Movie Character Spirit Day - Friday 29 January On Friday 29 January both Elementary School and Secondary School Student Councils will be organising a Book/Movie Character Spirit Day. Students are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book/movie character, being sure to follow regular school expectation of a respectful, respectable dress code. We will also be holding a book swap on that day. Students will be encouraged to bring in books from home throughout the week, and on Friday the students who donated will be able to pick up another book. The students have the option to swap their book for another, or to simply donate their old books. Please make sure that the books are in good quality, as they will be picked up by other students. Any leftover books will be donated to a worthy organisation. Thank you!

Tien Xzi Secondary School Student Council Secretary

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Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

Formative assessment in the PSPE classroom A feature of all PYP classrooms is assessment to inform teaching and learning. In Personal, Social, and Physical Education (PSPE) we tend to use video and photographs to capture moments as the nature of the subject is performance based. Whilst descriptions do serve a purpose ‘a picture or video is worth a thousand words’.

Whenever we embark on a new unit we want to find out what students know and can do. In this way we can build on students prior experiences and help them make connections to learn new knowledge and create new understandings.

In some of the portfolios you will be able to see swimming videos that show what students could do at the start of the year. Later in the year you will be able to see how they have progressed. The initial videos and other ongoing assessment (formative assessment) during swimming time forms a picture of what the next steps are for indvidual students and has an impact on what will be taught. These videos can also be shown to students so they can ‘see’ their own swimming technique - the Grade 2 students watched their videos and chose which ones they wanted to include in their portfolio.

Another technique is to make written notes about students. In the picture I am making notes about the ideas that students devised to their latest adventure challenge task and how they interacted during the task. In addition we are videoing student solutions which will be revisted later by the teacher to inform the next steps of teaching and student learning.

In this way students are constantly being assessed (formatively) and teaching is modified accordingly. These are authentic (situation based) and are used to assist students to grow as learners, developing their knowledge, skills and understanding. In addition they are still enjoying their learning experiences in PSPE lessons.

Simon Millward Primary Years Programme Coordinator

Reporting Student Achievement In last week’s newsletter our Head of School, Elementary School and Secondary School Principals described our IGBIS assessment policy and the principles that underpin assessment in an IB World School. In my newsletter article on Friday 4 December, I described the approach to assessment in the IB Middle Years Programme, which recognizes the importance of assessing both the process and the products of learning.

As we move through the school year, students in Grades 6-10 complete a series of summative assessment tasks which are evaluated against four criteria in each subject. The four criteria are broadly similar across all subjects, although they vary slightly according to the specific requirements of individual subjects. In general terms, the criteria are used to assess the following areas: - Criterion A: a student’s knowledge, understanding and ability to analyse ideas in a subject.

- Criterion B: a student’s ability to investigate, organise and develop ideas in a subject.

- Criterion C: a student’s ability to effectively communicate ideas in a subject.

- Criterion D: a student’s ability to use, apply, evaluate and reflect upon ideas in a subject.

After each summative assessment task has been evaluated by teachers, students and parents can can log-in to ManageBac to access personalised feedback from the teachers, including levels of achievement for each of the four criteria.

In addition to providing ongoing feedback to students and parents after each summative assessment task, the school also issues semester achievement reports. The school year is divided into two semesters. A full written achievement report is issued to parents and students at the end of each semester. The report is distributed in digital pdf format through ManageBac. Teachers review evidence from a range of assessment tasks to determine final achievement levels in each of the criteria for semester reports. They analyse student levels of achievement during the semester, paying particular attention to patterns in the data (such as an increasing level of performance), consistency and any mitigating circumstances. Teachers do not calculate an average result for the semester. The judgments reflect the teacher’s professional opinion on each student’s levels of achievement at the end of the semester. Semester reports include: - student levels of achievement for each MYP assessment criterion in every subject; - written descriptions of student achievement for each MYP assessment criterion in every subject; - evaluation of student Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills in every subject; - student self-reflection and goal-setting in terms of Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills and the IB Learner Profile; - homeroom teacher comments in terms of Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills and the IB Learner Profile; - record of attendance.

Semester 1 Achievement Reports will be issued on ManageBac on Friday 22 January. They provide parents and students with an indication of academic progress and achievement during the first half of the school year. The semester reports also provide a focus for the Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences on 27 and 28 January when parents can schedule meetings with teachers to discuss their child’s progress.

Phil Clark Middle Years Programme Coordinator

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

Page 3

News from Secondary School Mr. Lennox Meldrum Secondary School Principal Greetings parents/guardians. On Wednesday January 27 and Thursday January 28, our semester one Parent-Student-Teacher conferences will be held from 2pm to 7pm. These meetings provide an opportunity to further develop our home-school partnership, when parents and students can meet together with teachers to discuss academic progress. Through ManageBac students and parents are continuously updated with results and feedback from assessment items, and face-to-face meetings offer another way to develop a deeper understanding of the teaching and learning experiences that lead to these assessment results.

The conferences will be conducted on Level 6 of our campus and students are encouraged to attend with their parents. To book an appointment with our teachers, please go to this web page and follow the links: https://goo.gl/rbHo6z Please note that you will need to be signed in with your IGBIS Google Account to be able to make an appointment.

Teachers are available for 10 minute slots across the two days. Only appointments made through the booking page are accepted and bookings cannot be made within 6 hours of the appointment time. After you make an appointment an email will be sent with the details of the meeting. The email also contains links in case you need to reschedule or cancel an appointment.

On each of these days, school will close at 1pm after students have had lunch. Buses will depart at 1.15pm and all students are expected to leave campus by this time. Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis - for example, if you have an appointment at the start of the conferences. To make a request for your child to remain on campus after 1.15pm on January 27 or 28, contact their homeroom teacher via email.

On the booking page you will also note that there are IT Sessions being offered for parents at two times on each day. Our Technology Integration Specialist, Mr Geoff Derry, will also be available for drop-in times during the two days to aid with my direct queries.

Please contact Ms Usha in the Secondary School Office if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing you at the conferences.

IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy Semester 1 Concerts next week.

There will be two concerts to celebrate students learning and progress in the Music Academy next week.

Tuesday 19th and Thursday 21st from 2pm - 3pm in the theatre. Parents are welcome to attend these concerts. On Tuesday students of Ms Iko (Piano), Mr Yew Chee (Violin) and Mr Andy (Drums/Piano) will perform and on Thursday students of Ms Wong (Piano), Ms Irma (Voice), Mr Jerry (Woodwind) and Mr Adil (guitar and bass guitar) will perform.

Semester 2 registration - Final reminder and Invoices Parents are reminded that all registrations for semester 2 Instrumental Music lessons need to be completed online by Friday 29th January. Lessons for semester 2 will commence the week beginning 15th February. All the information about the Academy, schedules and the online registration is available on the IGBIS Splash page.

Invoices for semester 2 are being sent to parent IGBIS Gmail accounts. If you are having trouble accessing your IGBIS parent email please contact Mr Derry for log in and account details. (geoffrey.derry@igbis.edu.my) Mr. Jon Suffolk, Performing Arts Teacher

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Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

Music Celebration 19-22nd January 2016 Next week we are having a focus week on Music which we are calling ‘Music Celebration’. During the week there will be two concerts featuring students in the Music Academy on Tuesday 19th and Thursday 21st at 2-3pm. On Wednesday 20th in the Secondary School assembly at 8am there will be some students from Grade 10 and 12 who will presenting work they have done in class. Finally on Friday the week will culminate with the Elementary School Music assembly at 8:15-9:00am where all students from Grade 1-5 will present work they have been doing over the last semester in their music classes. All the performances will take place in the Theatre. We would like to extend a warm welcome and encourage as many parents as possible to come and attend the performances during the Music Celebration and enjoy the wonderful things the students have achieved.

Glen Fleury Secondary Performing Arts

IGB International School Music Celebration

Elementary Music Assembly Friday, 22nd January 2016

8:15 - 9 am

IGB International School Theatre

Music Academy Concerts 19th & 21st January 2016

2 - 3pm

IGB International School Theatre

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

Page 5

Activities Highlights Online sign-ups began Monday, January 11th at 8am and will continue until Sunday, January 17th at 4pm at this link: https://sites.google.com/a/igbis.edu.my/igbis-activities/sign-up. Elementary School parents are responsible for registering their child. Secondary School students will have the opportunity to sign-up at school or in their own time. All parents will receive a email confirming the sign-up. Please wait for a second approval email verifying your child’s registration in each activity. Some activities may not run due to numbers and others are capped with number limits. Students will be randomly selected via computer for those activities. Make sure you are signed in to your IGBIS school account when filling out the form.

Semester 2 Athletics & Activities will run from Monday, February 15th to Friday, April 22nd, 2016.

If you have any questions about Athletics and Activities please contact me at the email below.

Ms. Jasmine Brawn, Athletics & Activities Director

Student Services at IGBIS A parent workshop – led by Peter Fowles, Head of Student Services Date: 28th January 2016 Time: 8.15am Venue: Multipurpose Room In this session our Head of Student Services will discuss the different roles and responsibilities of staff (homeroom teachers, learning support and the counseling) in relation to student support. We will also look at the school’s behavioural expectations. While IGBIS has a mandated structure and policies, we would invite parents to be candid and participate in the discussions.

If time permits, we would also like to present and discuss the purpose of non-academic programs at IGBIS. This would include school camps, Activities and Athletics, our welfare program in the Secondary School and Health as a component of Physical and Health Education in both Elementary and Secondary School.

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Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives